Diamond MX300 replacement

[Maverick]

My current choices are the following:

Hercules Fortissimo II (4.1 s/c version of the Gametheatre XP but without the external drive and MP3 acceleration).

or,

Philips Rhythmic Edge (4.1 s/c version of the Acoustic edge without optical in I believe).

*I dont have a Minidisc player (yet, but no great desire to get one anytime soon either).

*I am currently using a Win98 and Win2K dual boot, and play games, MP3's, DivX movies, and eventually DVD's.

*Speaker set up is Cambridge Soundworks FPS1600 4.1's, and SONY MDR-CD370 headphones for those late night gaming sessions.

*Of course I could not bother and stick with the MX300 and just continue to play games in Win98 (where the drivers are best).

Any opinions on either card? Reviews are positive about both cards as far as I could read.

Cheers,

Mav

[RockBoy]

Philips Accoustic Edge of course... or failling that the rhythmic i guess.

that would be your best bet but you knew id say that now didnt you

oh and by the way for other readers... dont bother suggesting creative trust me hehehe ;)

RB

[whetu]

Originally posted by Maverick
Philips Rhythmic Edge (4.1 s/c version of the Acoustic edge without optical in I believe).
none of the philips line utilise optical, they use S/PDIF which is the digital coax format...

http://www.pcsound.philips.com/_rhythmic703.html

[Ragnor]

Go for the Acoustic Edge.... quality and support now and into the future.

If you can save up abit more I'd go for the Acoustic E rather then the Rhythmic, just think about how most of us keep the same soundcard for years.. it's not an item that gets upgraded very often. Better to think longer term..

The Fortissimo II is a great card too.. in some ways better then the Acoustic Edge.. however there have been reports of Hercules the company not being very stable right now... financial troubles etc... who know's if they'll still be around in a few years time..

I don't know anything about there driver support either, so I can't say whether that's good or not...?

Philips is a big company and they are going to still be around for a loing time, they also pump out regular new versions of the beta drivers.. the acoustic edge is very well supported by Philips thorugh 3dSoundSurge (www.3dss.com & http://www.3dss.com/drivers/AcousticEdge/index.html)

[Nebulus]

Funny how the awesome but small soundcard/chip makers die :| damn you creative you've taken Aureal away and now they want to destroy herc... *sob* I miss my MX300

[DiscoStu]

I had a play with the Fortissimo 2 and it was pretty good. The drivers seemed pretty good under XP (which I can't say for the cheaper Muse XL), so wouldn't think drivers would be much of an issue.

It has some pretty decent software as well, meaning you won't have to keep plugging/unplugging headphones etc.

[Maverick]

Cheers Guys,

Philips sounds the go-er. After being burnt by lack of driver support on the MX300 I have to say that is a MAJOR consideration. Its also why I would never go Creative (their aftermarket support is infamous).

Now, Looking at Philips site, I see the Seismic Edge is basically an Acoustic Edge without the Sony/Philips Digital Interface inputs and outputs. I dont think I will ever need these (I dont have a kickass home stereo for one). Any reason I should go for the AE over the SE?
Also the software with AE seems to have a DVD player. Is it any good or is PowerDVD all anyone needs?

Finally do Philips NZ import the SE? I have seen AE and RE in stores like ParadigmPC's (www.pp.co.nz) and of course Styles (www.stylespc.com)but not the SE.

Cheers!

Mav

[whetu]

the provided dvd player software is powerdvd, which is my personal favourite over the other big player, windvd.

philipsnz importing the SE? i have no idea sorry. Email one of the dealers of the philips line and find out if they can get you one.

If you dont need SPDIF than you can save a buck by going with the SE, but for futures sake it helps to have a bit more connectivity.. plus the AE is the flagship product at present so it gets the most attention

good luck

[RockBoy]

I dont believe the seismic edge is available here
H2go would know ;)
or PCPieces (http://www.pcpieces.co.nz)

and failing that give me a yell mav would be about 4 weeks though


RB

[DiscoStu]

The Rhythmic & Seismic are quite hard to find last time I looked. If you find any, let me know Mav :)

[Maverick]

Rhythmic Edge $131 @ ParadigmPC's (http://www.pp.co.nz) and a bit cheeper again at Styles (http://www.stylespc.com)

This is the later Rhythmic Edge with 4.1 sound (earlier one was only 2spker I believe).

HTH,

Mav

[Nebulus]

This Cheap enough, btw they know the pic is of the wrong card. Put philips arent in a hurry to supply the correct one, i also so know the RE's are out of stock at the moment and only 1 AE left in stock.

BlitzPC's (http://www.blitzpcs.co.nz/?location=catalogue&action=browse&product=1648)